The present invention relates to receptacles which can be used as drinking cups. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in receptacles which can be used as dispensable drinking cups.
It is well known to make drinking cups of a suitable synthetic plastic material or of paper which is reinforced (impregnated) with plastic material to improve its liquid-retaining characteristics. Such drinking cups can be used by campers, in offices, on boats, trains or airplanes for distribution with opened bottles or cans containing alcoholic beverages or soft drinks, in mess halls, at sports events, at parties, political rallies and/or on analogous occasions. It is also known to make relatively sturdy plastic cups which can be reused after cleaning and are sufficiently stable to withstand mistreatment by children or by careless adults.
In many instances, a cup is served or purchased together with a freshly opened bottle or with an openable or opened can. The purchaser or another recipient pours the beverage into the cup and normally disposes of the bottle or can, as well as the cup, when the bottle or can is empty. However, if the contents of the bottle or can are not consumed in their entirety, the purchaser or recipient will often wish to conserve the remaining liquid and to shield the opening or open top against entry of insects, dust and/or other foreign matter. As a rule, a person manipulating the cup places the cup upside down on top of the bottle or can so that the neck of the bottle or a certain portion of the upper part of the can is concealed in the interior of the inverted cup. This does not prevent spillage if the bottle or can is accidentally overturned. If the bottle was originally sealed by a crown cork or the like, which must be removed by resorting to a suitable tool, or if access must be gained to the contents by removing an integral portion of the top wall of a metallic or plastic can, the opening of the can cannot be resealed by restoring the original seal and the bottle cannot be resealed by resorting to the once-removed crown cork. Therefore, a can is simply emptied because there is no possibility of preventing spillage in response to tilting or overturning. As far as a bottle is concerned, it is necessary to resort to a cork or to a specially designed reusable cap in order to prevent spillage in response to tilting or overturning.
The placing of a cup in inverted position over the neck of an open bottle or over the top portion of an opened can is a stopgap measure which, as already mentioned above, can prevent entry of insects, dust and/or other foreign matter but does not result in resealing of the bottle or can. Moreover, and if the bottle or can contains a carbonated beverage, the gaseous ingredients escape regardless of whether or not such container is partially confined in an inverted cup. In other words, the beverage deteriorates very rapidly and must be discarded if it is not consumed within a short interval of time subsequent to opening of the bottle or can.
A drawback of separate corks or reusable caps for bottles is that they contribute to the cost and also that they are likely to be lost or misplaced. Moreover, it is practically impossible to furnish an adequate number of corks or reusable caps for each bottle of soft drink or beer which is consumed by spectators attending a large sports event, by the participants of a convention or by the visitors in a natural park or the like. Still further, spent bottles and cups are discarded together with the spare corks or reusable caps to thus further contribute to the littering problem. In addition, a specially designed reusable cap must be furnished with instructions on how to apply it to and how to detach it from the open top of a bottle which again contributes to the combined cost of the bottled beverage and a drinking cup.